


Drowning in nightmares

by omfg_otp



Series: One-shots [10]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Clovis helps Percy, Dreams, Drowning, Gen, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-21
Updated: 2015-04-21
Packaged: 2018-03-25 01:24:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3791410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/omfg_otp/pseuds/omfg_otp
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clovis can't sleep. Who's ever heard of a child of Hypnos that can't sleep? No one, that's who. But Clovis can't shake the feeling that there's something very wrong. So he goes to investigate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Drowning in nightmares

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is the first in (hopefully) a series of fics wherein Clovis, Head counselor of the Hypnos cabin, helps the main characters of HoO to get over their nightmares.

Clovis was lying wide awake in his bunk. Both of his siblings were fast asleep in their beds (as any normal child of Hypnos should be, Clovis included). But, for some reason, Clovis was feeling restless. The fact that he couldn’t get to sleep was extremely bothersome; sleep was a constant in his life. Clovis was _always_ tired. But tonight, again, there was something wrong. He could feel it in the air. Fear. Despair. Panic. He felt on edge, and awake. Awake was not something he was used to. All he wanted to do was to go to sleep. Sleep sounded very nice, but how could he sleep while all of _this_ was around him?

It had been happening for three nights now. After the campfire, everyone went to their respective cabins to get some well-needed rest, but for some reason, Clovis could never seem to find any. Sure, still napped throughout the day, no problem. It was only at night this feeling of unease settled over him like a wet blanket (and Clovis _hated_ wet blankets).

He’d tried everything to fix it: breathing exercises, mugs of warm milk, bedtime stories, counting sheep. He’d even put a sleeping enchantment on himself, though he hadn’t really expected that to work, anyway.

Sighing, he rolled out of his bunk. There was no way lying there would do him any good. Maybe a walk would tire him out. He put on his deliciously warm slippers (they stayed infinitely cozy, a gift from his dad) and made his way outside into the night. Even though he was breaking curfew, Clovis wasn’t worried about the harpies. Children of Hypnos were extremely prone to sleepwalking, and the harpies were somehow trained to ignore them.

Walking through camp at night was a very strange experience for Clovis. He could sense all the campers around him dreaming. A kid in the Ares cabin was dreaming about riding a horse through a field of flowers - Clovis mentally filed it away as blackmail material. Someone in the Demeter cabin was dreaming about huge vegetables chasing them around. Typical. And in the Aphrodite cabin….Clovis blushed and walked past as quick as possible. He did _not_ need those images in his brain.

He was passing the Poseidon cabin when he felt it again, stronger. Pure fear. Utter despair. Blind Panic. Looking towards the cabin curiously, he felt a wave of energy, making him shiver. That, along with the fact he couldn’t tell what was in the nightmare, made him extremely worried.

His powers weren’t really an exact science. They were temperamental, and often depended on the person he was using them on. But he’d never had trouble peeking into a half-blood’s dreams before. In fact, demigod dreams were so strong he usually had trouble blocking them out. But here was Percy, obviously in distress, and Clovis had no idea what he was dreaming about. It was safe to say he was a bit curious.  

He made his way up to the door, pausing for a second. Should he really be going inside? Percy was obviously terrified at what was going on in his head, but it was a huge invasion of privacy. Clovis knew that people’s dreams are the most personal part of themselves, where vulnerabilities are laid bare for anyone to take advantage of. But Clovis was firmly convinced Percy needed help, and he’d be damned if he didn’t do anything.

Pushing the door open, he silently walked into the cabin, immediately spotting Percy asleep in his bunk. The son of Poseidon lay still and silent, showing none of the turmoil Clovis knew must be going on inside his head. As he got closer to the sleeping boy, the sense of dread and pain intensified. Clovis kneeled down next to the bunk. Percy looked so peaceful. It was odd, really. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, Clovis reached out and lightly placed his hand on Percy’s arm.

The effect was instantaneous. His mind was immediately transported into Percy’s consciousness. It was an odd feeling, but one that he was used to. He opened his eyes and looked around. He didn’t recognise where he was, but it seemed to be an aquarium of some sort. Huge panes of glass lined the walls from top to bottom, behind which held vast amounts of water.

Clovis looked away from the tanks, instead focusing on finding Percy. Why the son of Poseidon was so afraid surrounded by this much water was beyond Clovis. Perhaps there was some sort of monster Percy was fighting? Looking around the large room he was in didn’t help. It was completely empty. No Percy. No monster. No nothing. But the feeling of fear and panic was so potent, Clovis figured the boy couldn’t be far away.

Clovis was pondering the situation when he spotted him. A young boy, about 11 or 12 years old, was suspended in water in one of the tanks. Running over, Clovis recognized immediately it was a young Percy. He hadn’t known Percy at that age, but there was no mistaking him. His dark hair was floating around his sharp features. His eyes were closed, and he was thrashing wildly. Clovis realised with a start that Percy - the son of Poseidon himself - was  _drowning._

He had to get the boy out of there. Although Percy’s physical body couldn’t be hurt in a dream, his mind was another story. How long had Percy been stuck in this state of panic? Hours, probably. Clovis cursed himself for not coming sooner.

Putting a hand to the glass of the tank, Clovis concentrated on controlling Percy’s dreamscape. It was simple, really - as he imagined the glass cracking under his hand, it did. As soon as it started, though, there was no stopping it. The water smashed out of the tank, slamming Clovis back and throwing him onto the floor. The feelings of panic instantly faded, and were replaced by utter drowsiness as the water gushed out. The next few seconds were a blur of water swirling and sloshing around the room, until it was calm enough for Clovis to stand up again.

Groaning, spluttering, and soaking wet, he looked around and spotted the eerily lifelike 12-year-old dream-Percy heaving and coughing up a steady stream of water on the other side of the room He waded through the ankle deep pool towards the boy, who had collapsed on the ground in exhaustion.

“Thank you,” Percy wheezed, as soon as he could speak through his gasps.

“You’re welcome,” Clovis replied quietly, sitting down to wait for the boy to get his breath back.

They sat together for a few minutes, Percy’s ragged breath slowly turning back to normal, Clovis focusing on keeping his eyes open.

“How did you know?” The son of Poseidon asked after a while. “That I needed help, I mean.”

“I felt it,” Clovis answered simply. There was no point in trying to explain his powers, when he himself didn’t fully understand them. The boy seemed to accept the answer, nodding his head.

“Can you get me out of here?” he asked. 

Instead of answering, Clovis simply reached out, placing his had on kid-Percy’s arm, and they were suddenly whizzing back to reality.

Percy gasped slightly and sat up, wide awake. He had a wild look in his eye, and was breathing as if he hadn’t been able to for a while - which, Clovis reminded himself, he hadn’t. Percy calmed down a bit when he saw Clovis. 

“Dude,” He said, pulling Clovis onto the bed, and hugging him tightly. The son of Hypnos froze slightly, feeling awkward. He and Percy had never been close. Sure they were friends, but Percy was friends with _everyone_. Percy pulled back a second later. “Thank you,” He said again.

“It’s really no problem.” Clovis told him, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. “In fact, I should be apologising to you. I, uh, I invaded your privacy.”

Percy blinked a few times. “You mean the dreams? No way dude, you have no idea how bad those were messing me up,“ he said. “I haven’t slept in three days.”

“I know.” Clovis said. “Wow, that sounded creepy. I mean that I haven’t been sleeping either I could sense the power of your dream from my cabin and it was keeping me awake. It wasn’t until today I decided to investigate, though.” He felt guilty about that - he could have helped Percy sooner. Looking out the window, he saw the first rays of sunshine in the sky. This must have been the longest time Clovis had stayed continuously awake in his life. “I should go,” he said, standing up and making his way to the door. A second before opening it, he turned around.

“Hey, Percy, would you like me to put you in a dreamless sleep until morning?” he asked. It was really the least he could do. The son of Poseidon gave him a grateful smile.

“That would be amazing.”

Clovis walked back towards the bed, about to cast the enchantment, before pulling back for a second.

“Just so you know, you can come to me about any sleeping problems. I’d be happy to help. Oh, and that goes for your friends as well.”

Percy nodded, exhausted. “Okay, I’ll tell them,” he said.

Clovis didn’t say anything else, preparing to cast his enchantment instead.

“Oh, and thank you. Again.” Percy added.

Clovis smiled at the him, before touching his forehead. Percy was out like a light.

Yawning loudly, Clovis finally made his way out of the Poseidon cabin, and towards his own. He hadn’t certainly hadn’t expected that dramatic turn of events tonight. A midnight walk had turned into battling Percy Jackson’s inner demons. He briefly wondered why Percy, of all people would be afraid of drowning, but that thought was promptly erased from his mind when he saw his bed again. It was the most beautiful thing Clovis had seen in a long time. Flopping down, nearly comatose with exhaustion, Clovis finally fell asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Checkout the Hypnos cabin tumblr: Hypnoscabinet.tumblr.com


End file.
